Canadian Government Says Thousands of Same-Sex Marriages by Foreigners are Not Legal

The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that the government is contending in a Toronto court case that non-Canadians gays and lesbians who have been married here since 2004 are only considered married under this country's laws if gay marriage is also recognized in their home country or state.

The paper is basing its report on court documents filed in a Toronto test case. It was launched by a lesbian couple seeking a divorce. They were wed in Toronto in 2005, and cannot be identified under a court order.

A Department of Justice lawyer reportedly argued the marriage was not legal in Canada because the couple could not have been legally married in Florida or England, where the two live.

The Globe & Mail adds: "The government’s hard line has cast sudden doubt on the rights and legal status of couples who wed in Canada after a series of court decisions opened the floodgates to same-sex marriage. The mechanics of determining issues such as tax status, employment benefits and immigration have been thrown into legal limbo."

More than 5,000 couples from outside of Canada have been married there since same-sex marriage was legalized in 2004.

Comments

Gay marriage is just like straight marriage except you have to keep doing it over and over again.

Posted by: Chris | Jan 12, 2012 2:09:57 PM

Conservatives turn on gays at the first opportunity.

Stop the presses...

Posted by: BobN | Jan 12, 2012 2:29:00 PM

Why, if the marriages were not valid to begin with, did the Ontario government take my hundred-plus dollars and issue a marriage license to my husband and me? I checked repeatedly before going to Ontairio to marry and I was repeatedly assured that there was no residency requirement and that everything was on the up-and-up.

Posted by: Merlyn | Jan 12, 2012 4:26:54 PM

On behalf of Canadians, I apologize.

We're currently being governed by a "majority" government, who won only 39% of the vote, generally from the socially prehistoric minority of the population.

Posted by: Randy | Jan 12, 2012 5:32:39 PM

Your lead story? Are you guys asleep?

I work as a freelance journalist and documentary film maker in Canada. I only post news based or op ed pieces on this site. For some strange reason your firewall blocked my three attempts to provide real news from Canada.

We know what happens once non factual news hits the USA. A majority of Americans to this day still believe that the 9-11 terrorists came into the USA from Canada based on early erroneous news report. All the terrorists had received visas from the USA, were resident there and had, in fact. taken flight training while living in the states.

Stories like this about marriages being invalidated (when they are not) don't serve any of us in the gay community. The story you posted 13 Janaury is stale. Go to Queerty.com for the latest news releases that dispel this story. The government of Canada has NOT invalidated any s-s marriages. You might consider hiring journalists who know about fact checking